What if a RAID-1 HDD fails?

21 Mar 2005 1:02 PM

Unknown User

I want to use 2 HDD in a RAID-1 configuration for redundancy, so that I
don't loose any data.
I have a question: One day, one of the 2 HDD will fail, then as soon as I
replace it, the data will be mirrored to it right away, but how do I know
when it fails? Doesn't the OS boot? How do I know which one failed?
Thanks,

--
Boost the visibility of your web site in Google!
http://www.digitalpoint.com/tools/ad-network/?s=5203

Using Opera's revolutionary e-mail client: http://www.opera.com/mail/

http://www.auriance.com - http://www.auriance.net

21 Mar 2005 1:11 PM

Christo

"Unknown User" <m*@privacy.net> wrote in message

news:op.snznuhzfr3xrds@cinza...

>I want to use 2 HDD in a RAID-1 configuration for redundancy, so that I
>don't loose any data.
> I have a question: One day, one of the 2 HDD will fail, then as soon as I
> replace it, the data will be mirrored to it right away, but how do I know
> when it fails? Doesn't the OS boot? How do I know which one failed?
> Thanks,
>
> --

from what i know there will be a message when your RAID BIOS load, saying
Serial_1 error or something like that

not entirely sure though.. someone else might shed more light onto it

21 Mar 2005 4:41 PM

Vanguard

"Unknown User" <m*@privacy.net> wrote in message

news:op.snznuhzfr3xrds@cinza...
Show quoteHide quote

>I want to use 2 HDD in a RAID-1 configuration for redundancy, so that I
>don't loose any data.
> I have a question: One day, one of the 2 HDD will fail, then as soon
> as I replace it, the data will be mirrored to it right away, but how
> do I know when it fails? Doesn't the OS boot? How do I know which one
> failed?
> Thanks,
>
> --
> Boost the visibility of your web site in Google!
> http://www.digitalpoint.com/tools/ad-network/?s=5203
>
> Using Opera's revolutionary e-mail client: http://www.opera.com/mail/
>
> http://www.auriance.com - http://www.auriance.net

Your hardware or software RAID controller will alert you to the failure.
If hardware RAID, it could be the RAID BIOS that alerts you or it could
be a software utility that gets loaded when you boot whatever operating
system you use. If software emulated RAID (provided by the operating
system), its documentation should tell you; however, if it is the
primary drive that fails then the OS will error, hang, or crash and you
might not get notification. Since you didn't bother to mention what
hardware RAID you are using (onboard controller on the motherboard, RAID
controller card, or software RAID provided by the operating system which
you also did not mention), you'll just get vague replies to match your
query.

By the way, mirroring is not used to protect data. If you delete files
on your primary drive accidentally, deliberately, or by virus or other
action, you lose that same file on the mirror drive. Mirroring is to
provide you with hardware recovery to get you back up quickly, not for
data backup. You might have already realized this but I've seen several
users of RAID thinking that the setup was protecting their data.

You really need to spam us with your signature? The spammy signature
makes it unclear if you really wanted to ask a question regarding RAID
or were actually attempting to covertly spam the group.

21 Mar 2005 7:14 PM

Unknown User

On Mon, 21 Mar 2005 13:41:58 -0300, Vanguard <use_ReplyTo_header> wrote:

> By the way, mirroring is not used to protect data. If you delete files
> on your primary drive accidentally, deliberately, or by virus or other
> action, you lose that same file on the mirror drive. Mirroring is to
> provide you with hardware recovery to get you back up quickly, not for
> data backup. You might have already realized this but I've seen several
> users of RAID thinking that the setup was protecting their data.

Thanks, yes I will use RAID-1 for this reason, and I will still backup my
data to another HDD.

> You really need to spam us with your signature? The spammy signature
> makes it unclear if you really wanted to ask a question regarding RAID
> or were actually attempting to covertly spam the group.

No, I was actually looking for an answer to my concern. Thanks again.

--
Boost the visibility of your web site in Google!
http://www.digitalpoint.com/tools/ad-network/?s=5203

Using Opera's revolutionary e-mail client: http://www.opera.com/mail/

http://www.auriance.com - http://www.auriance.net

21 Mar 2005 6:28 PM

Bennett Price

Unknown User wrote:

> I want to use 2 HDD in a RAID-1 configuration for redundancy, so that I
> don't loose any data.
> I have a question: One day, one of the 2 HDD will fail, then as soon as
> I replace it, the data will be mirrored to it right away, but how do I
> know when it fails? Doesn't the OS boot? How do I know which one failed?
> Thanks,
>

If you don't get a clear indication from sw/hw, disconnect one drive and
see if you can boot. If you can, it's the other drive that is bad.